building. It was several minutes before he had located the
little runabout he had bought for his wife the previous Christmas.
Jack Woodvale, their caretaker, gardener, and chauffeur, was just
retrieving his suitcase from the baggage lift as the senator arrived.

Waiting until Woodvale had secured the suitcase in the luggage
compartment and climbed into the pilot's seat, Duran squeezed himself
into the cabin. A minute or two later the little craft was rising from
the port, directed automatically into the appropriate channel and
guided off toward the city.

"How've things been going, Jack?" the senator asked. He felt good.
Wayne's friendship and assurances had provided a needed boost.
"Everything okay?"

"I'd say so, sir," Woodvale told him. "Had a little trouble with the
solar screen. The store sent a man out to fix it. It's all right now."

The new power unit had been another of Molly's ideas, Duran recalled.
The old crystal sulfide screen had been perfectly reliable. But Molly
had thought it looked ugly up there on the roof. Molly's main faults,
he decided, derived from her concern with the neighbors' opinions.

"Oh, there was something else came up while I was on my way out to get
you," Woodvale continued abruptly. "The state's Attorney General
called--said it was important you contact him immediately."

Duran sensed anger surging up as he remembered the times when, as
District Attorney, Sig Loeffler had openly snubbed him. That, of
course, had been back in the days when Duran had been a junior partner
in one of the city's smaller law firms. He had not forgiven Loeffler,
nor had Loeffler given him any reason to do so. Only the Governor's
back-slapping mediation had allowed them to reach a politically stable
relationship. The relationship did not involve Duran's compliance with
the man's whims, however.

"Get him on the phone, Jack," Duran said at last. "But just make one
call. If he's not at his office, forget it."

In less than a minute Woodvale was turning around to say:

"He's in, sir. You want to talk to him?"

Duran grunted and lifted the phone from the clamp beside his seat.

"Senator Duran speaking," he said.

"Vance, this is Loeffler," boomed a voice in considerable contrast to
the senator's own mild tone. "Something pretty fantastic has happened.
We're trying to keep it quiet, at least until we decide on what action
to take. But if you can make it over here some time this evening, I'll
tell you